Leaderboard

Is every SDA teaching taught in the Bible: * In our past history, it has been clearly demonstrated that we were wrong and needed to make a change. * It must be assumed that the same is true today as it can not be assumed that we are perfect in all of our teachings. * We do hold to some ideas today that may be lightly mentioned in the Bible, but are not well grounded in the Bible. I can think of some. * Our understanding of the Bible may be conditioned by our culture. * The Bible may not speak definitively to every issue that we may face in life. Therefore, we may need attempt to apply a Biblical principal to a specific situation in which we struggle to find an answer. * When I comes right down to it, we may have teachings in which the Bible is silent. I am reminded of a policy in the SDA Church in another country that would discipline a person who wore blue jeans in public.

This is an interesting article on the tithe issue which occurred during the recent NAD meetings. Part of what I noted is that the NAD is planning on reducing the amount of tithe money sent to the GC. But even more concerning is the declining interest in supporting the growth of the world church by arguably the richest division in the church. When you consider that at one time, church members gave over $6 dollars for missions for every $10 dollars in tithe money, and today it has shrunk by some sources to about 26¢ per $10 tithe. Given the vast increase in affluence in Western countries, it seems that a huge increase in self centeredness has occurred. As a clip in another thread noted, "Winter is coming," in the church, it is already here. Of interest, also, is the authors imagination of how he wished things had gone at the NAD meetings. http://www.fulcrum7.com/blog/2018/12/4/regarding-nad-tithe-parity

While I made an allusion to end time prophecies, what I feel is not understood are not the end time prophecies, but issues related to what God wants to do within us and other parts of the whole Gospel message. I hear all the time about God's grace and nothing more is needed from us, we can never be perfect and will be able to sin to the very moment Jesus returns, perhaps not all the beliefs of the SDA church are true or necessary, or any number of other things that get postulated in this and various other forums. There are many facets to salvation that I believe will each one fit into a perfect coherent picture of what God wants us to see and know. Some of those pieces include things like: The Sanctuary message The repeated many times over in the New Testament "to be perfect" Having the mind of Christ or having Christ formed within us The calling out of a people to be a remnant people and Last Generation Theology (i.e., the 144,000) I see so many things that get thrown out there, and they frequently lead me to remember this Bible text, "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." 2 Timothy 3:7 Then there is this text, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Jeremiah 33:3 So God is willing to teach us and bring us into all truth, but some will always stumble in the darkness. Why? So many strange things are going on in the world and in the church that just amaze me. When much younger, even as a child, it seemed so simple how it would end. But today, it has gotten so convoluted and the fighting in and out of the church amazes me. The fighting and rebellion within the church is even more amazing than what goes in the world, and within the church mirrors the world. In one place in the Old Testament, it spoke of the evil within the children of Israel and noted that the nations around them were amazed at how evil they had become. Given that many texts in Scripture seem to cover many situations, none fit better here than, "Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you." Habakkuk 1:5 I would have had difficulty believing if I saw written down what was to happen in the world and in our church today. So, I still feel that most of the church do not understand what is happening.

Crown of thorns

And could not the same kind of deductive (I'll take it one step further - speculative) reasoning reasonably come to a different conclusion? Could it be that as more information has become available to us over the past 170 years that reasonable deductive reasoning might take us down a different path? If the original "if this" is discovered to be false, we have to find a better "if this" based on our new information (i.e., "present truth")

Without the Bible we would know nothing about this conflict in God’s family. Nor would we have the record of how He has demonstrated His trustworthiness by His infinitely skillful and gracious way of handling the revolt. But can the Bible itself be trusted? Do we have the right collection of sixty-six books? Have the […] The post Conversations About God: Summary of Chapter Five, “The Record of the Evidence” appeared first on Jon Paulien's Blog. View the full article

I appreciate the discussion taking place between Gustave and other of our members. While I may comment more later, I am now wanting to give others time to comment before I do. I will comment now on comments the cite a relationship between doctrine stated here and that of the JWs: * The real issue is not whether or not any other denomination teaches something. It is whether or not the Bible teaches it. * SDAs would reject much that the JWs teach. However, on some points what we teach may be similar, at least in part, to what they teach. * After all, SDAS do have some similar beliefs with Catholics. But that does not make us Catholic and a belief similar to the JWS does not make us JW. * No denomination, to include SDAs has a perfect understanding of all that God wants taught. Over the years, the SDA denomination has changed its beliefs on some subjects and probably will continue to do so in the future, if it follows the leading of the Holy Spirit. * No, the so-called 28 are not perfect, should not be used as a creed, and hopefully in the future will better reflect what God wants taught.